Lightened flywheels

[Elwood]

My understanding of these is that they allow your car to rev down quicker..

so im replacing my clutch with a exeedy HD, is it worth replacing the flywheel with a lightened one, when i thought its good to have our cars retain their revs throughout gears as it allows us to hit vtec quickly in the next gear?

[TeMp]

As with all mods you gain something and you lose something.

A lighten flywheel allows you to rev up faster and the revs also drop faster.

Rev'ing faster = faster acceleration as it allows you to access your full power in a shorter time.

Revs dropping faster = as you said, when you change gears you will lose more revs which may result in you dropping out of power band. Shifting faster and smoother can help the reduce in drop in revs but it maybe annoying doing these kind of shifts if you have to do it daily.

All in all its meant to make your car much more fun and is even rated better bang for you r buck (in acceleration wise) over header/extractors by Toda.

[Elwood]

^Hmmm..

do you have one temp? if so, do you recommend it?

[00dc2]

i dont have one but when i need to replace my clutch i will get one.

a flywheel is a energy storage device. its there to smooth out the bumps and troughs in your engine's power curve and to help you drive without stalling.. so when your engine revs up some of the energy goes from the engine and spins the wheels and moves your car.. some of the energy goes into spinning the flywheel...

what this means is that depending on which gear your in, your wasting more or less energy by putting it into the flywheel rather than putting it into your making your car move.

if you make the flywheel lighter it means your engine doesnt need to put as much energy into it to spin it up (as you rev through to max revs)..

this will make your car accelerate appreciably faster in 1st gear. a little faster in 2nd gear and you wont feel a thing in 3rd, 4th, 5th etc...

but i personally cant stand waiting for the car to get to vtec in 1st so this will make a difference in 1/4 mile and 0-100 times!

on top of that it should make blipping the throttle when downshifting easier.. ??

my question is whether this has any negative effects on the engine.. ie does it increase the wear on the engine as there is less filling in of those bumps and troughs in its power output?

anyone have any experience with this?

[Elwood]

but i personally cant stand waiting for the car to get to vtec in 1st so this will make a difference in 1/4 mile and 0-100 times!

true, but the idea is when you change to second you wont be already at the 5500rpm stage you'll be lower, thus possibly reducing the time..

and if it has no effect on 3rd 4th and 5th it seems sort of pointless as 1st gear runs out pretty quickly with vtec..

[00dc2]

i change gears very quickly when going hard, there is no time for the revs to drop between gears.

we will have to wait for people who actually have these to say what their experiences are..

[freakygeek]

I have the Toda lightened flywheel in my DC2R, with an Exedy Sports Organic clutch. It is a great mod, improves response and makes the car feel more lively.

The revs changing more quickly aids in rev matching downshifts, allows you to quickly blip the throttle to get the revs up to where you want.

The 1st & 2nd gear performance increase is quite noticeable, less noticeable in 3rd-5th gear.

The only downside I can possibly see to a lightened flywheel is that it makes the car slightly more difficult to get away smoothly from a standing start. You might stall your car twice a year rather than never

true, but the idea is when you change to second you wont be already at the 5500rpm stage you'll be lower, thus possibly reducing the time..

I think you're misunderstanding the workings of the flywheel here. Having the revs drop quicker allows you to change gears smoothly faster. If you shift quickly enough the revs won't fall too far.

[kookie]

I had my new clutch installed over the weekend and its great. Rev's do go up and drop down much faster, but it makes the ride more fun.

I don't think it has any negative effects on our engines, as our cars (DC5R) had a heavier fly then the JDM one. I'll write up a review on them when i get a chance, but to sum it up.... I'm loving it!

[Jingers]

less engine braking and less torque

[Wlee2]

less engine braking and less torque

i goto ask.. but how do you actually prove the above? i hear it all the time.. as well. but i dont understand the reason for this..

[freakygeek]

less engine braking and less torque

Not true at all.

With a lighter flywheel you will have MORE engine braking, as 00dc2 said, a flywheel is essentially an energy storage device. If you have less energy "stored" as inertia, then the engine braking effect will be increased because there is less inertia available from the flywheel effect.

Less torque is a common myth about lightened flywheels and can be easily disproven.

Think of it this way... does anyone ever tell you it's better to have heavy wheels on your car for acceleration? Does anyone ever tell you that if you put light forged wheels on your car that you will lose torque? Same deal with a flywheel, except with a flywheel its effects are multiplied through the gearing giving you an even greater effect.

Someone calculated it somewhere - will have to find it - but the effect of removing 4kg of flywheel mass is the approximate equivalent of removing about 70kg of static weight from your car in first gear (due to the multiplication factor of the gearing etc). That is a noticeable difference.

[tinkerbell]

lightened flywheel = a good modification to improve your cars performance.

the only downside is that you have to slightly adjust your clutch actuation method - this takes a few days of driving ...

[00dc2]

I'd like to second EVERYTHING that freakygeek says above ^
he knows what he's talking about!

i cant wait to see how a dc2r feels in 1st and 2nd gear with this mod!

[j0nbubz]

so a lightened flywheel can be replaced onto a stock clutch?

or would a new clutch/lightened flywheel combo work better?

[45SET]

If your going to pull your gearbox out of your DC5r (most work shops charge between 5-8 hours) you might as well change the clutch at the same time.

If you get a new clutch and flywheel... they'll be able to bed in together, and they are rated/made for each other. If anything... the stock clutch is made for a 9kg flywheel (stock weight of AUDM DC5r F/W)... so if you go and add a 4kg F/W to it... its not designed... and might have adverse effects. I'm not 100% sure if thats true... but it makes sense... in my mind.